Something for a little girl...

One of my daughters-in-law, for whom I make cards as part of her Christmas gift, asked me to include more cards for kids. I haven't gotten around to doing too many so far this year, and now I'm going to have to do a little scrambling. I want to make enough for those families of mine who have little ones who still go to birthday parties. I made one today to get that ball rolling.

If you're like me, you not only have some kind of electronic cutting device, but you also have a 'manual' one. I love my Big Shot. And while I'd like to have almost everything put away in my craft room, I love having my Big Shot out where I can just plain use it. Some of my favorite dies are from My Favorite Things. Quality and variety (you should see my wish list...). And their stamps - more of my favies.

Today I used the sketch from MFT's Wednesday Stamp Club Sketch Challenge. When I happened to look at it, I knew right away which stamp I wanted to use as my focal point. And hey Darnell, it's a NBUS!!  Here's the sketch:

And my card:

In my world, it works really well for a little lady. All the stamps are from MFT, and there's even a bit on the flower; x's & o's. SU black ink, and all the papers are various scraps! (except for the Bazzill base, of course). A bit of copic marker on the nose, and under the glitters, and the cupcake paper was highlighted with an SU light green marker. One pink pearl from ZVa Creative. I cut the scalloped border with my Cameo, and embossed it with a LC folder. The darker pink part of the flower was cut with a Sizzix die, and the lighter pink has been punched with an ollllldddd punch. That's it. Happy dances everyone!

Another birthday card

Next week is my dear son Tad's birthday. And yes, that's his real name, his whole name (not Thaddeus). He is absolutely wonderful. Dear child, and the kind of son every mother hopes her son will grow up to be. I could gush all day, but I'll end all this gushing by just saying that Tad is a blessing.

So I made a card for him. And I like it. 

I popped into CASology earlier this week, and came up with ziltch. Nada. Zip. Nothing. Then a little something...nah.... Today a ping  went off. Got it. It fits! It'll work. I can play along with CASology!!

This is my darling son's birthday card:

It's a matchbook!  The bottom part kept popping open, so it looks a little lame. So much better irl...another bad photo *sigh*. And here's the inside:

The 'striker' part of the matchbook covers the very bottoms of the candles. If I were having a better photography day, I'd show you that part. But, it just isn't working for me. 

I cut a strip of kraft into a 4x11 panel, and scored on the 1" and 5" marks, then folded it into the matchbook shape. Blue (and it's more of an aqua color than the photo shows...darn it all!) letters cut with MB Parker alpha dies. MME enamel dots. Unknown candle stamps, could be HA...Memento and Studio G inks. Random scrap of yellow cardstock 'flames' and a touch of stickles. Wplus9 inside sentiment. And that's all. Happy dances everyone

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNELIE!!!!

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Hannelie,

Happy Birthday to you!!

Just a note to let you know that you're being thought of, and wished the very best on your birthday, dear friend! Hope you have your favorite dinner, and enjoy your favorite flavors of cake and ice cream too. And here's hoping that you get lots and lots of new crafting supplies as presents!! God's richest blessings to you today and throughout the coming year.

For all you who haven't visited Hannelie's blog, you can find it here at Desert Diva. Please stop by and wish her a very happy birthday!

And naturally, it wouldn't be a birthday without a card. So of course, I made one just for this very auspicious occasion. It was inspired by this card; a CASE of one of her awesome cards.

It was a tough choice. All of Hannelie's cards are amazing. But this one caught my eye today, and I was able to make one that I'm hoping Hannelie will enjoy.

If you want the supply deets, shoot me an email, and I'll divulge them. 

One for Avery Elle's Challenge

So much to do yet today, but I did have a few minutes to make a card earlier. Wanted to play over at Avery Elle's challenge. Nina Yang has the most fun sketch, and I just had to give it a shot. 

 

Nice, isn't it?!

Here's my card:

I found half a sheet of yellow card stock in my scrap box, so thought I'd use it. In fact, all the papers are scraps! Yipee!!  AE sentiment and stars stamps, and by punching the same reds and yellows, I made my own bling using Glossy Accents! SU ticket punch. And StazOn white ink. Gotta run. Happy dances everyone!

No jinxes here!

Love it when the mojo stays. When those cards that you picture in your head actually turn out well! Am liking this one, which you'll see in a minute (that is, of course, unless you skip reading and go right to the card...). Have you visited the wondrous and brilliant Jackie Rockwell's blog lately? She's got something really fun going on over there at Rockwell Designs. She says, and I quote:

"I'm making my way through the Pantone Fashion Colors for Spring 2013. If you'd like to join me please click on the badges...to play along in a current or past color challenge! New challenges will be posted every 1-2 weeks. All challenges run until September 22, 2013."

This is the third (at least I think it is...) time I've played along. And this time I'm using the colors from the Grayed Jade challenge.

Dear, wonderful Jackie is offering a free blog header to the winner. Can you just imagine???!!!! A design by Jackie on your very own blog?! You've just got to give it a shot. I did:

While not quite exactly the color from her palette, it's pretty darn close. Other than the white Bazzill card base, each and every other single thing on this card is a leftover. (Ok, ok, the stamps are kinda, sorta newish...) AC scrap of dp, a scrap of gray, of my own interpretation of grayed jade, and of white. AE stamps (love those!), and a hunka chunka ribbon out of the ribbon scrap box. That's it for now, but who knows, with baseball on in the background, I might go for one more! Happy dances again!

Back in the Groove...

Oh it's so nice to be back in the craft room. And I plan to stay here alllllll day. Later this afternoon, the Cubs play, and since the family room is right next door I'll be able to listen to the game while I craft. It's going to be a good day! I've found that with baseball on in the background, I can craft like a crazy woman (just watch now...I've probably jinxed it!). Lol.

There are a couple of challenges I wanted to play along with. One is the very fun 10 Minute Craft Dash, and the other is a 'new to me' challenge - Sweet Stamp Shop's Use What You Have Challenge. Last night, while looking for a piece of dp for another challenge (which I hope to get to next...), I found a scrap of black and white striped paper. Then one giant PING went off in my head! The whole card popped right in. This morning after checking out all the wonders in blogland, I got my stuff together and set to work. Whenever I play along with the TMCD, I do at least one dry run. With a timer. Took me more than the allotted 10 minutes. Pooh. Tried it again and what do you know, just under! I re-gathered my supplies and made sure everything was in place. Set the timer and worked my little fingers off...for 9:49!!!!!! The hard part was getting those darn stems under the flowers. I would have finished with a bit more time to spare, but I decided at about the 9:00 mark, it needed some bling. Thankfully, the bling drawer was open, and the diamonds were easy to find! Six little blings later and I'm done on time!! Woohoo!!!

Love this color palette! That Paulina comes up with the most fun combinations! And if you haven't played along with this one, I highly recommend it. It gets your adrenaline and your creative juice flowing!

If you've visited me before, you know how much I love using up what's on hand. So I think that this challenge is a pretty darn good fit. (Shout out to Judy for letting me know about it). First here's my desk with the supplies I used:

You know what makes me happy about this photo? The fact that I still have more of that striped scrap to use on a future card!! Nothing brand new here. In fact, some of these goodies are, well, practically ancient...like the ribbon (I've been hoarding saving that for a special project...). So what did I make???? Let's look, shall we?!

Under 10 minutes??! Yep. I gathered all my supplies and put them where I knew I would use them. Like the die...it went right over by my Big Shot along with a scrap of white. Pulled the scrap of ribbon from on top of that little striped box at the top right of my photo. Got my inks out and opened, stamps loaded onto the blocks, and the black and the striped scraps ready to cut. The only thing I had to scramble for was the bling, and that didn't take very long. Boom 9:49 minutes later, and I'm done. Didn't even break a sweat! I had a blast. The rose looks really pink here, but it isn't. IRL it looks pretty close to what Paulina's got posted. Now, go and check these two challenges out, and play along!!! Happy dances everyone.

eta: well, looks like I missed the deadline for the UWYH... next time though....!

Whew!!

Yesterday afternoon, DH and I took our son, dear dil, and little Kelly to the airport. BooHoo! We so enjoyed their visit. That Kelly....! Her mom & dad timed their visit  for us all (plus our daughter & family here in town) to celebrate the little one's 4th birthday. Very thoughtful of them, and very fun for us. When she was coming down the stairs on her birthday morning, I happened to be waiting there. I said "Happy Birthday Kelly", and she said: "Awwww...Sanks Gwandma!" It's going to be one of those memories...you know, the kind you keep in your heart always! She's a bundle of energy; something DH and I aren't used to on a daily basis anymore. So naturally, we're exhausted. But in a good way. They live in the Phoenix area, and we generally only see them once a year now. But we sure make the most of it when we're together.

So that's pretty much why I've been out of blogland for the last 8 days. The next couple of months are shaping up to be in-and-out too...up next is grandma's drive to Madison to watch kidlets when the new baby is born! Grandchild coming by this time next month. I'm hoping for the 15th. My son, this sweet little family's daddy, was born the day before my dad's birthday, and I thought it would be nice to carry on that tradition by having this baby born the day before mine! One can always hope. After the new baby comes, we will be having visitors from Phoenix; Dauphin,Manitoba (hmmmm....I wonder who....??!!); and Minneapolis. It will be a blast!

And before I get too long winded, and bore you all to tears (or is it already too late to say that?), I'll get down to business. Now you all know I'm sure, that Neat & Tangled is celebrating their first birthday, right? Well, it's been one whole month of nothing but fun over there. Pop over and see for yourself! And I decided to join in once more, and play along with their "Let's Eat Cake!" challenge. They've offered a couple of free digis which I used on my card. Come on and play along!

My take:

I started with a Bazzill base, and used my new Wplus9 dies to cut a circle out then backed it with a scrap of aqua which had been run through my Big Shot using a LC embossing folder (that was a NBUS, Darnell!). I printed out the sentiment and cake on pink, yellow and white scraps, and then used MFT flag dies on the sentiments. The cake was done with a bit of paper piecing using the white, and some dp scraps. The flower is from HL, and the "glow" above the candle, and sequins are all from N&T. They make the most luscious sequins....And that's it for now. Happy dances everyone!!

Happy Belated Birthday Marybeth!!

When Joyce emailed me to ask if I wanted to join in the surprise birthday blog hop for Marybeth over at Marybeth's Time for Paper, I jumped at the chance! After all, Marybeth is one of those very special people in the card making world. She's first of all, a kind, generous, sweet, and very thoughtful person. You just have to read her posts to see that! And then there are her cards...Oh. My. Goodness! So many descriptive adjectives come to mind when I think about her cards, but I've managed to narrow it down to just two that pretty much exemplify her cards: beautiful and elegant. It's always a good thing to pop over to her blog and see her exquisite creations. If by chance, you've never had the opportunity to visit her blog, (and I can't believe that you wouldn't have...) be sure to go; you will never, ever, never be disappointed. Her cards are as lovely as she is.

Hey Marybeth! Happy (belated) birthday!! Joyce and Cathy organized this little hop to let you know how much you mean to all of us out in blogland, and I'm delighted to be a part of this. Sure hope you enjoy this hop, and God's richest blessings to you in the coming year, and always! Happy (belated) birthday Marybeth!!!! 



Here's the master list of participants in the hop, and if there are any problems with any links, just head back to Joyce or Cathy's blogs and you'll find the next name on the list. Oh!, at some point, be sure to stop over at Marybeth's blog and leave her some HB wishes too!!

Joyce

Cathy

Ally

                       Bev < you are here

Bonnie

Carol J.

Carol S.

Christina

Darnell

Helen

Jeanne

Jill

Kara

Kelly

Kim

Lisa

Nancy

Renee

Sharron

Sue

Tracey

Vickie

Naturally, I made a card. What's a birthday without a birthday card?! In doing so, rather than CASing one of her cards, I tried to capture a bit of Marybeth's style. Here's hoping I succeeded!

Sorry...

I've been away. Not by choice either...And not "away" away; migraine away. And company's coming, so I've been trying to catch up with getting ready for that as well. Oldest son, dear dil, and little Kelly are coming in from Phoenix this afternoon for a bit over a week. Very excited, but those darn y.k.w. had me down for five days and I couldn't shake them until yesterday which turned into the mad cleaning frenzy. You know exactly what I'm talking about too....Have missed my little blog and all you wonderful bloggy friends out there.

My sister-in-law, Marilyn, had surgery yesterday with hopes that the main tumor will be gone, and then when her strength is back in a few days she'll have more chemo to shrink tumors elsewhere. I made a little card for her with some new stamps. Had to get that finished - she needs to know we're here for her.

Am playing with A Blog Named Hero Victorious Vellum Challenge and Simon Says Stamp's Wednesday Challenge.

I might be too busy playing with 4 year old Kelly to craft, but we'll see what we all end up doing while they're here! She's a hoot. Hates having her hair brushed and doesn't eat much...Grandma can get her to do both, much to mommy and daddy's amazement! It's that grandma thing! Now, my card:

For some reason, my photo just wouldn't cooperate...a bit washed out, and looks really crooked, which it really isn't...someday, I'm getting a really, really good Nikon again.

I used my brand spankin' new WPlus9 Freshly Cut Florals stamps and dies with some Colorbox and Studio G inks. It's fairly monochromatic, at least in my world. There's a scrap of vellum around the neck of the vase and the sentiment panel is also vellum. I cut the vase with my Cammie (as Geri G. calls hers...), and used some N&T sequins. The one looks really green in this darn photo, but it's not!!! Gotta run, lots of last minute touches before heading to the airport. Happy dances everyone.

Pot Luck Party Challenge at N&T

Last month, I made this absolutely delicious Mint Chocolate Chip Cheesecake for our daughter's birthday. It was simple to make, and incredibly wonderful. I wanted to share, and when I saw Neat and Tangleds Birthday Pot Luck Party challenge, well, the timing could not have been better. It's great for a party! The recipe will be below the photo.

(adapted from a recipe at Cooks.com)

1 1/2 finely crushed mint Oreo cookies (18 of them in my food processor worked perfectly!)

2-3 TBS melted butter

3 - pkgs. softened cream cheese (I used the lower calorie Neufchatel which was fine)

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

3 eggs

1 tsp. peppermint extract

5 drops green food coloring

1 c. mini chocolate chips

1 TBS flour

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Combine cookie crumbs and butter. Press firmly on bottom of 9" springform pan.

In large mixing bowl, beat cheese till fluffy. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Add eggs, peppermint, and food coloring and mix well. In small bowl, toss 1/2 the chip with flour to coat; stir into cheese mixture.

Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 of chips evenly over top. Bake 1 hour or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool to room temperature. Chill thoroughly. Garnish as desired. Refrigerate any leftovers.

It's quick enough to make on semi-short notice, and elegant enough to serve for those more formal occasions. I can tell you that I honestly will make this again. And again. And again! Happy dances everyone! And Happy Birthday to Neat & Tangled!!

Happy Birthmonth

Neat & Tangled Stamps is having a month-long celebration in honor of their first birthday. I have some of their stamps, and can assure you that, well, I just love them. When my order came, along with the stamps in the package was a package of sequins in assorted colors! How cool is that?! Head on over to their blog Little Tangles and see all the happenings. Lots of challenges to play along with. And speaking of their challenges... I'm playing along with their Let's Celebrate challenge.

Big birthday wishes to N&T!!!

I just love happy things. Glitter, flowers, bright colors, balloons...and this looks particular card looks happy to me. There's a bit of glitter on the Imaginisce dp - happy. N&T sequins - happy. N&T stamps(bottom sentiment) - happy. SU inks - happy. SU stamp (top sentiment) - happy. Cutting out a column of pretty perfect 1.5" squares on my Cameo - happy and happy! And although it's hard to tell, the diamonds (N&T btw) have been stamped with StazOn black onto some shiny silver paper which you can see more clearly on this post. And now I'm off to make up a bed for granddaughter Lizzy, age 15, for a sleepover. Mom and Dad are going up to the Packers pre-season game. She and I always have fun! Video games, out for dinner, and I'm thinking she just might want to make a bd card for her dad tonight. We might have to post again later if we get creative! She makes me happy!! And to you all -- happy dances!

CASology 56

This week's cue card over at CASology is something everyone likes...

What's not to like?! I can think of hundreds of desserts I'd like to climb right into and devour my way out, but maybe that's not such a good idea anymore... A little taste of something heavenly, now that's a different story altogether! I've been good. I've been very good. In fact, there's more than half of a fresh strawberry pie still sitting in the 'fridge. It's not that I don't want it, but rather, my better sense says I don't need more than a taste. So I will content myself with rice cakes, walnuts and string cheese until I'm svelte again. Until that happens, DH can have most of my share.

Mmmmmmmm.....Doughnuts.......Channeled Homer Simpson this morning and came up with a card!

A nice tall, wobbly stack of doughnuts. Personally, I'd rather have a plain cake doughnut and skip the frosting...but that's just me.

I started with a Bazzill white base, then used a scrap of white to stamp the stack with Taylored Expressions Sprinkled With Love set. I colored the doughnuts and frosting with SU colored pencils and Copics, and used SU's blender pen. The sprinkles are made with SU markers. Sentiment is in black SU ink, and some sequins from Neat & Tangled. Fussy cut and popped up. That's it for this one. Happy dances everyone.

Another August Birthday

With my large family, if it isn't one of the kid's or grandkids' birthdays, it's a sister/brother, dad, niece/nephew...well you get the idea. This week and/or month is no exception. Today is Rachel's golden birthday. Seven. Already. When did that happen??? It seems like yesterday she'd sit on my lap in church and play with my buttons or chew on my necklace. Then, not to long ago, she said to me "...grandma, don't call me 'Rachie' anymore; I'm a big girl now..." I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. She is a big girl. And I love her so darn much. Isn't it funny how our hearts are able to grow and embrace each new child? Now there's a truly wonderful gift from God. We never get full, or have too much love in our hearts. I really like that.

I've made a card for this little sweetie. She's getting money inside because she's saving up for her own iPod. Her parents are incredible and are teaching all their kids how to be good Christian people. I really like that too!

I'm entering this card into Moxie Fab World's Birthday Card challenge. 

And here is Rachel's card:

Other than a white Bazzill card base, everything is out of the scrap boxes. I cut a little crown with my Cameo, and used a variety of pearls. The stamp is Wplus9, and Studio G ink. Pretty easy to do, and I think she'll like it. That's what counts. Happy dances everyone.

Full Swing...

Birthday season is in full swing here. Last week, as many of you know, I was down and out with migraines (now referred to as ykw - you know whats), and didn't get to my cards for this week's birthdays. That, and I had three of the little grandchildren for a sleep over Saturday while mommy and daddy went to a wedding in Chicago. So I was behind already. Sunday I was just plain tuckered out from playing with the little ones...they really kept me hopping and laughing. Then yesterday, Mr. Nojo showed up and somehow managed to add several layers to the recycle bin. Today was much better. Mr. Nojo was banished and the pings have begun to resound once more. I'm no where near done with the birthday and anniversary cards for this week, but I'll be caught up by tomorrow...I hope...

It's been a pretty good day. The contractors were here and poured the new steps and sidewalk out front. I just went out and poked it with my toes, and it's already begun to harden really well. They'll be back tomorrow to put the 84 year old, newly sandblasted and painted railings back up, and pull the forms. After they throw some dirt down, I'll run and get some grass seed, and go crazy with that. Way too many birds nesting nearby not to put down 'extra' seed. Sometimes I love being a homeowner and seeing things done, and other times all I can see are dollar signs....If the birds don't somehow manage to eat all the seed, I'll post a photo when the grass comes in.

My first card is for DH's birthday. We're huge baseball fans, and so how could I not make some kind of baseball card for him? He's been a Yankees fan since he was a kid back in the 1940s, so I had to kind of go Yankees with his card. But not too much this year. They're not doing very well, and then there's the whole A-roid scandal happening, so this card is somewhat low key Yankees. Thought I'd pop it into Moxie Fab World's Birthday Card Challenge while I was at it.

I tried to draw pinstripes. With colored pencil. With distress markers. That's part of the reason my recycle bin has begun to overflow. I gave up. It was just way easier to cut skinny stripes...

Sorry for the poor lighting. Right when I wanted to snap pix, the sky decided to become overcast...The stripes are really navy blue, not black. I used Bazzill for the base, and cut green (for the color of the grass) letters using a baseball font on my Cameo. The mitt and ball are from a package of Cubs stickers, but I don't have the manufacturer information. The navy and kraft mats are from my scrap box, and I added stitches with my red SU marker.

My next card is for Jackie Rockwell's Pantone Color Challenge. She put up a beautiful shade of blue, and as soon as I saw it, I remembered a piece of dp that I had in my scraps box. This card is a little girlish, but I will admit that I like the way it turned out. Now, if you haven't checked out what's going on over at Rockwell Designs, please pay Jackie a visit. There's a prize involved, only I'm not telling what it is...if your curiosity is peaked, go and see. 

I chose to go with silver rather than gray in my design. 

Upon a white Bazzill base are two scraps of beautiful and unknown papers. The top is shiny silver, as is the little tag. In real life, the blue looks much closer to what Jackie has shown. The mini pearls (hahaha 'Minnie Pearl', get it?! hahaha) are from Michaels, and I cut them apart from a swirly design thingy to put them on the edges of the little tag. I cut the little tag from my Cameo and then tied it with some silver string to the line of larger pearls. The Sticko sticker fit nicely in the center. Rather quick and just a little girly. Well, I'll quit now so I can go watch some of the Cubs game. Happy dances everyone.

Aren't we Blessed?!, Seriously... aren't we Blessed?!

You'd think that after four straight migraine days that it would be difficult to think of blessings. (Wednesday and last night were especially bad, too) But that's what came to mind this morning. Blessings. Countless blessings. New babies, a perfect summer's day, happy healthy grandchildren, family and friends, music, coffee, oh...so many blessings and I know that you know what I mean! In the last 20 years I'm guessing that I've "lost" at least seven years of days to migraines. Maybe more. That's a whole lot of migraines. But rather than dwell on the days I've lost, I'm giving myself permission to be seven years younger! That puts me right back into my 40s!!! LOL. Yeah, now even these little beastie migraines have become a blessing!!

So far today is alright, (though the day is young). I've got contractors out in the front yard with diggers and dozers and big ol' tools. We're having the whole front step area, including sidewalk replaced and repaired. The original railings will get sandblasted, repainted and put back, and the two amazing concrete slabs above the beautiful brick sides will be salvaged, as well as the bricks. It will be so beautiful out there again! Very excited.

Monday, on day 2 of migraines, I had an appointment with my NP at the neurology clinic. The best part of going to the clinic is that on the way home, I can stop and get a coffee and pop into My Paper Playground. You've just got to meet Sharon. One very talented lady, and a sweetheart who makes everyone feel welcome at MPP. Seriously, if you live anywhere near the Milwaukee area, stop in and shop, take a class, or just have a visit with Sharon, you'll be glad you did. There were all kinds of treasures in her store, and I had a difficult time controlling myself. One thing a paper addict has a difficult time resisting is, well, paper. Be proud of me though...I only walked away with one pad! It's totally cool. Raise your hand if you love Pebbles products. Me, too. I picked up a pad that's 5.5x8.5, patterned and scored! The perfect card base. Totally love it. Got a card today made with it....

Have you seen this week's Muse challenge? Lynn Mangan from The Mango Boys and Me has this fantastic card for inspiration. Cool, eh? Had to play, though mine is a tad-bit different....

My darling grandson is celebrating his birthday here Saturday. He's at that age where all the second graders are into Pokemon. Had to make him a Pikachu card. 

The more I look at this, the more I think he'll like it. The base is from my new (yay!) Pebbles Basics pad, I found a coloring page and made the little cutie into a digi image, and printed him on yellow Bazzill cardstock, colored the cheeks and tongue with ProMarkers, then fussy cut him. I cut a polaroid frame with my Cameo, and used MB Parker alphas for my buddy's name. Lawn Fawn speech bubble and stars (also fussy cut), and MFT hb. And that' my honey boy's birthday card. Happy dances everyone!